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Nursing Homes Are Coronavirus Hot Spots. Pasadena And Long Beach Tighten Rules
An elderly patient in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 12, 2017. Many U.S. nursing home workers don't have protective gear to prevent COVID-19 spread. (Eitan Abramovich/AFP via Getty Images)
The Long Beach and Pasadena health departments are tightening restrictions on skilled nursing and assisted living facilities after a spate of COVID-19 deaths.
In Long Beach, nursing home residents account for 13 of the city’s 18 coronavirus-related deaths. In Pasadena, at least 14 people who either worked or lived at nursing homes have died.
Under the new rules, all nursing homes, even if they don’t have a confirmed case, must take their staffs’ temperatures twice daily and isolate residents. In addition, staff must wear face masks.
Due to close quarters and a population that’s especially susceptible to the virus, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have become hot spots for COVID-19 outbreaks.
Researchers are also finding that it can take 13 days for someone who is exposed to the coronavirus to develop symptoms, meaning health care workers could be spreading the virus even if they feel healthy.
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